Heartless Hunter: Crimson Moth #1

The most recent read of mine, Heartless Hunter by Kristen Ciccarelli, was a Book of the Month pick for February. I ended up ordering late, but with that being said, within three days of having the book, I had finished it. Which for me is much much faster than my average.

Synopsis (per me): Heartless Hunter is a enemies to lovers romance with a witch and a witch hunter. Gideon hates witches because one killed his parents and sister. Rune stands up for witches, because, well, she is one. In their society, the general government is against witches, but it wasn't always that way. Years ago (around 10 to be exact) their society was ruled by witches, three witch queens, sisters that were more powerful than average. When the purge on witches started, Rune didn't know she was a witch, but she did know her Grandmother was one. Forced to oust her in a society that would have killed them both had she not, Rune feels endlessly guilty to this day, despite the fact that she did it under a promise to her Grandmother to save herself.

When she finally realized she was a witch, just months after her Grandmother was killed, she is forced to uphold an image of pure hatred for witches to stay protected, except, in retribute for her Grandmother, she saves all the witches she can, under the name of the Crimson Moth, a calling card if you will that comes from her spells. (END SYNOPSIS)

If you aren't hooked yet, this may not be for you. In the original synopsis, they mentioned it being a enemies to lovers story between a witch and witch hunter, and that's all I needed to be hooked in.

I loved this book, I found that it had many of the things I love in a good romantasy book (my favorite genre). I always enjoy a main character that has a detailed backstory that gives the character depth. Rune and Gideon both had that depth, Rune from her Grandmother, and Gideon from his family. They were able to connect in that way, despite Rune keeping her cards closer to her chest throughout the "faked" romance.

It definitely made the characters feel more real that they held so true to their past. While I did guess the big twist, and it's possible that it was because the author made it too obvious, or because I am just seasoned in this kind of story by now, it was still satisfying to be right because it felt like that had to be it.

I love a book that can make me laugh out loud (and cry, although I didn't in this case). Books that make you feel such vivid outward emotions are my absolute favorites, because you know the author put their real emotion into the work, and that is hard to do in many cases.

I was so sad that this book just came out though and I will not be able to read the next one for who knows how long. I have noticed lately that it is becoming more popular to write a whole series ahead of time and have release dates within a year of each other, but alas with this book that does not seem to be the case. The book does not even have a title yet, although there is a placeholder on Goodreads, so I guess that's something.

Overall, if I were to give this a star rating, I would say it was a solid five stars, because it included so many things that I love in a good book, and it created a space where I could read a book in less than a week, which really is impressive for me.